Now that shoe is on other foot, suburbs try to gnaw it off

White flight & suburban sprawl have taken a substantial toll on American cities. But now those suburban localities that encouraged and benefited from sprawl are starting to feel pain from these same societal trends.

The aftermath of the addition [of Short Pump and Stony Point Fashion Park] . . . is still being felt,” said Matthew Ostrower, an analyst with Morgan Stanley who follows the shopping-center industry… Chesterfield Towne Center, Regency Square and Virginia Center Commons saw sales decline, according to tax data compiled by Henrico and Chesterfield counties.

The first malls in Richmond, Azalea, Willow Lawn, and Cloverleaf, were all built right on the city/county line, capturing shoppers from both the newer suburban dwellings and those in the city.

Those days are mostly gone.

And so are some of those malls: Deadmalls.com has entries on two defunct Henrico malls, Azalea and Eastgate (now operating as the struggling Fairfield Commons Mall). Their Cloverleaf entry needs updating to reflect the new situation.

Short Pump, Watkins Center, West Creek- these shopping and employment center developments are built nowhere near the city line.

But their distance from the city center also means that those areas developed earlier in the counties’ history are being neglected by shoppers and employers.

So it’s no longer simply the city center with troubling retail vacancy rates or neglected and crime-ridden neighborhoods.

It would be funny if it weren’t so depressing.

*For a dated, but still relevant, statistically-based analysis of these trends, see the 2003 Bacon’s Rebellion article “Inflection Point.”

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4 Responses to “Now that shoe is on other foot, suburbs try to gnaw it off”

The flipside of this story is how proactive the counties are proving to be at aggressively turning some of this around — in stark contrast to the Richmond government’s inability to get itself focused and together. The pending athletic complex in a once-decayed area of eastern Chesterfield is another example.

John, you’re right, of course. But I would suggest that they don’t have the number of significant barriers that the city does.

We have significantly more poverty- the counties have refused to build any public housing. And with poverty comes more crime and the need for more social services, employment centers, etc.

We are landlocked with little opportunity for growth (since annexation was banned) and the accompanying increased tax revenue. The counties put up Short Pump, Watkins, etc. and use that excess money for whatever projects they want.

Plus some of the city’s most valuable real estate is tax exempt- controlled by the gov’t.

The city also has to pay for roads, while the state pays for the counties (Henrico excepted).

So it’s easier for the counties to focus and set priorities, sure. But that’s because they’ve got fewer problems to set priorities for. At least at the moment.